I was reading this interview with five of the top NASCAR drivers from a recent Sports Illustrated and Jimmie Johnson said this: "It's really difficult to pass, and when you get a chance, you practically have to drive over your head to pull it off" and Dale Earnhard Jr. said "You can be two tenths of a second faster than somebody [on each lap] and run them down and then get stuck behind them at about five car lengths." I've seen this over and over this year. A car will pull up on the back bumper of another car that is obviously slower and due to aerodynamics the faster car cannot get around the slower car. If they could find a way to make the cars less dependent on aerodynamics you would have better racing. My solution? Mandate that teams can't run a body style more recent than 1979. Now that would be racing. I want to see some square grills out there.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Howdy

Like others I have been using Facebook as a communication tool and that has really slowed down my blogging. I even got suckered into a religious discussion with a jackass who is a friend of a friend. Stupidest thing I've done in a while. I need to refer myself to this XKCD comic when I feel myself heading to that particular online abyss. Losing sleep over Bioshock is one thing, losing sleep because you are arguing with a fundamentalist Christian is another. Doing that makes playing Bioshock at midnight look like you are in a laboratory curing toenail fungus.

Wednesday Brigham and I went to a golf course in Matthews, NC called Emerald Lake. Chris had been there before years ago and I hadn't played there yet and we are going back. For a public course that only charges $35-$40 dollars for eighteen holes it is a beautiful golf course. The fairways are impeccable and the rough consists of Bermuda grass that is just tall and thick enough to slow your club speed down and force you to club up and hope for the best. The course design also utilizes water real well. The par 5 fifth hole is especially notable for the way water is used. You have to drive the ball over water onto a wide and forgiving fairway that doglegs to the left. After that it's 150 to 200 yards to an island green. That was a fun hole. The greens need work and they are working on them. They did vary from soft and slow to hard and fast so I couldn't get a good read a few times. They were still better than other public courses I have played on.

This is Chris teeing up at, I believe the sixth tee. This is another nice hole with a blind tee shot into a dogleg left with an approach shot that goes over a creek."

I'm happy to report that my golf game has improved tremendously in the last year. I was really embarrassed by an outing in July of 2009 so I've been to the range a few times and that has really helped me out. A little practice goes a long way. My drives are consistently straighter although I still don't get the elevation I need and my midrange game is 100% better than it was. I'm finally keeping my head down and following through properly. I hit a shot from about 150 yards out over a grove of trees with my 9 iron that landed within ten feet of the hole. I was ecstatic. It's probably the best shot I have ever hit. Naturally, I missed the birdie put but I didn't care. I don't get very many real pars and I happily took that one. In fact, that's how I keep score. I give myself one point for a par and two points for a birdie. My score Wednesday was 2 which should show you how much of a duffer I am. Still, it's nice to walk off the golf course and feel good about how your day went instead of contemplating burning your clubs in your backyard.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Okinawa Rifle Range

I found a nice recent picture of the rifle range at Camp Hansen on Okinawa. I had my best week at the rifle range here back in 1988. I went to the range late in one fiscal year and about a month later early in the next fiscal year. I used the same rifle and was already dialed in and was in the black with my first shot and cruised to a high expert score on qualifying day. Good times. Here's a picture of me at the same rifle range in 1988. I'm standing in rifle ranges butts running a target.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

The "Ground Zero Mosque"

You know, that structure that isn't really a mosque that is to be built two blocks from ground zero. This whole debate that is being fueled by the worst of the American right really is, as Al Franken said, one of the worst things I have ever heard. As usual the Daily show sums it up the best for me. That video is below. What I say to those that oppose the Cordoba House is, yeah, I get it. I know why you don't want it there. But, you know what? Too fucking bad. Suck it up, grow a pair, nut up or shut up. This is the USA, they have a right to put it there and you should support its construction even if it scares the shit out of you. There aren't two sides to this debate. If you oppose the building of this Muslim community center then you are wrong. There is nothing to debate. Have the courage of your Constitution.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Lin Cove Viaduct

Today we broke camp a day early because 24 hours of rain is plenty, thank you very much. We did get a chance today to drive some on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We traveled across the Lin Cove Viaduct, which is an incredible structure. For the first time I took some pictures of it.

Monday, August 09, 2010

Stan "The Man" Musial

The current Sports Illustrated has a wonderful article by Joe Posnanski on Stan Musial. I learned about an amazing piece of statistical trivia. In 1948 if Stan Musial had hit one more home run he would have tied Ralph Kiner and Johnny Mize for the National League home run title. If he had done that he would have led the league in home runs, runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBIs, batting average, on base percentage and slugging. Amazing year. Another piece of trivia: Musial hit 475 home runs in his career and never led the league in home runs. Another one? OK. He finished with 3630 hits. 1815 of those hits were hit at home and 1815 were hit on the road.

Jerry Rice was always one of my favorite players. I remember seeing him make a spectacular catch at Clemson while playing against the Panthers during Carolina's first season. What more could you ask for? He's going into the Hall of Fame and I found a nice interview with Jerry Rice. Congratulations to Rice, truly one of the great athletes of our time.

Monday, August 02, 2010

The Power of Metafilter

Just for the hell of it I posted a question to Ask Metafilter concerning Wendell's sleeping habits. I included a link to a cell phone photograph I took of Wendell's sleeping position on his love seat. That picture now has over 2100 hits. That is amazing. It is now the second most viewed photograph on my Flickr account. It will soon pass the picture I took of Izzy Stradlin' in 1993.